1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an interlabial pad having a function of conforming to the shape of the relevant part of the wearer's body when it is being worn, thereby allowing the wearer to properly wear the interlabial pad.
2. Related Art
Examples of conventional feminine hygiene products generally used include sanitary napkins and tampons. Here, a great deal of effort is being put into the development of sanitary napkins which have a function of preventing menstrual blood from leaking from the gap between the sanitary napkin and the wearer's skin, which occurs due to poor adherence of the sanitary napkin to the wearer's skin around the opening of the vagina. On the other hand, the tampons lead to the wearer experiencing feelings of discomfort or foreign-body sensation, and difficulty in inserting the tampon into the vagina. Accordingly, a great deal of effort is also being put into the development of tampons having a function of eliminating such problems.
In such a situation, a sanitary item intermediate between the sanitary napkin and the tampon, the so-called interlabial pad is coming to attract a great deal of attention. The interlabial pad is a sanitary item that has a function of allowing the wearer to wear it by putting a part of the pad between the labia such that it is in contact with the inner face of the labia. As compared with the sanitary napkins, the interlabial pad provides improved adherence of the pad to the wearer's body, thereby preventing menstrual blood from leaking out. Thus, the interlabial pad protects against menstrual blood spreading over a large area of the wearer's body, thereby offering a clean sanitary item. Furthermore, the interlabial pad is smaller than the sanitary napkin, thereby providing greater comfort when it is being worn. On the other hand, as compared with the tampon, which is inserted into the wearer's vagina when it is being worn, the interlabial pad has the advantage of reducing the wearer's psychological resistance to wearing the interlabial pad.
However, the interlabial pad has the following disadvantage. That is to say, the contractile force between the woman's labia allows the interlabial pad to be worn and maintains the adherence of the pad to the wearer's body. Let us consider a case in which the wearer has inserted the interlabial pad improperly. In some cases, such a case causes the interlabial pad to be displaced from the wearer's labia. Also, in some cases, the interlabial pad in this state cannot exhibit satisfactory absorption capacity, leading to the leakage of menstrual blood. Accordingly, there is a demand for an interlabial pad having a function of allowing the wearer to properly wear it in a simple manner, and various interlabial pads having such a function have been studied.
As an example of such an interlabial pad having a function of allowing the wearer to wear it in a simple manner, the PCT Japanese Translation Patent Publication No. 2004-526502 (hereinafter Patent Document 1) discloses an interlabial pad including a tab connected to and hanging from a backing sheet. The tab included in the interlabial pad is relatively stiff. This allows the wearer to easily hold the tab without the tab becoming deformed when the wearer is inserting the interlabial pad between the labia. Furthermore, the tab is not formed so as to be uniformly stiff over the overall length. In other words, there is a difference in the stiffness between the upper portion and the lower portion of the tab. This suppresses the wearer's feelings of discomfort due to the stiffness when the interlabial pad is being worn.
Also, as an another example, PCT Japanese Translation Patent Publication No. 2005-503193 (hereinafter the Patent Document 2) discloses an interlabial pad formed of a liquid-permeable cover, an absorber, and a liquid-impermeable buffer, with joining member such as a strip, slit, adhesive, pleat line, protrusion, or the like, being formed along the center line of the liquid-permeable buffer. The interlabial pad having such a structure allows the wearer to put it on and take it off by inserting the wearer's finger into the joining member or guiding the joining member by the wearer's finger.